LSFF 2019: Opening Night: All That Scratching Is Making Me Itch

11 Jan 2019

Polka Dots and Moon Beams, Dir. Sandra Goldbacher, UK, 1983, 12min

Born of Thatcherist angst, daytime TV, agitprop and the ascent of the home video recorder, Scratch Video was a British video art movement of the early 80s characterised by the splicing together and recontextualization of found footage, churning pop, politic ideologies and VHS into ‘televisual punk rock’. Ultimately finding its way from the gallery walls of the Tate and ICA to the clubs of South London, we’re returning it to the historic ICA theatre for our traditional bop of a festival opener.

In association with LUX, we present an excavation of the genre with original work by the Duvet Brothers, Gorilla Tapes, George Barber, Sandra Goldbacher, Kim Flitcroft and John Hanlon, featuring the music of New Order, Joy Division and Strike! The Enemy Within. Accompanied by multi-screen projection and live performance from synth supergroup Wrangler, expect an old-school Scratch Video affair with big visuals, big dancing and/or a little considered head nodding.

Mallinder has also curated a programme of contemporary collage videos to screen, including work by Dan Conway, Luke Pendrell, Francesca Levi, Joe Shearsby, Jedd Winterburn, Akiko Huruna and Corey Johnson.

Visuals: Dan Conway

One of the founding members of Soupa, Conway provides visuals for a range of clients including Deadmau5, Pendulum and Eric Prydz.

Live: Elsa Hewitt

A prolific producer, songwriter and sound artist, Hewitt’s avant-garde electronics won her the PRS Foundation’s Lynsey de Paul Prize in 2017 after releasing three albums on her own ERH imprint.

Visuals: Sweatmother

Sweatmother experiments with various mediums, including found footage, performance and video, re-evaluating cinematic conventions and exploring alternative narratives to queer identities, feminisms and womxn-identifying representations.